Races For All Paces

by recesstec Blog workshops

Races For All Paces

The Recess TEC team took the morning off from presenting today and instead entered in the Races For All Paces, a family style fun run and walk.   Mom and Ashton, along with my niece Taylor registered for the 1 mile walk while Mike and I ran the 5K.  It was one of the windiest races I have run since my HS track days.  It was a great feeling of accomplishment to run and finish within the top 20-25 runners (official results haven’t been posted yet), but at the same time made me realize that I need to spend a little more time running in between school and working on the computer in the evenings.  Wow, am I out of shape!  Mike was already ahead of me by the first mile marker, but not by much.  Near the middle of my third mile, he was done….and so was I, but not literally.  I did make it though…without passing out at the finish line, thankfully.  We actually got finished quickly enough to be able to get back over to the 1 mile course and walk with Ashton, Taylor, and Mom.  Mike ended up getting Ashton to run for the majority of it while Mom, Taylor and I enjoyed the walk on a beautiful yet windy morning.  While we really love spending Saturdays in computer labs across central IL, working with educators (and sometimes up north…ok…once), this was also a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  Plus we got to introduce Taylor to our favorite Charleston area restaurant, “What’s Cookin’?”  Yum strawberry bread!

Strawberry Bread

 

Ice Ice Baby

by recesstec workshops

ice_cold

Who knew I would ever really have the opportunity to make a Vanilla Ice reference in a blog?  I guess being invited by Nadine Norris to host two sessions at the Ice Cold Mini-Conference in Lisle, IL made it feasible.  A couple weeks ago Mom and I had the privilege of presenting our first professional development session in “The Burbs”.  We were both excited and nervous all wrapped up in one.  When my husband asked why that was the case, I told him it was because I was worried that our downstate, rural, small school ideas would be old hat in the big city.

(Were we two “chicks from the hicks”?)

After getting up in the wee hours of the night (4:30) and driving by way of GPS (as not to repeat our trip to Raymond/Panhandle) we found ourselves digging through the ashtray for change to pay tolls.  What is with tolls anyway?  We sure don’t have anything like that anywhere around here, unless we count the Lion’s club periodically standing on the corner of our busiest streets to collect our spare change.  I guess the tolls are a way to remind me to appreciate small town living.  It worked, because just as soon as I was able to muster up enough change and get back in the lane I needed, I had to veer right again to repeat the process.  Note to self (and Recess TEC):  Invest in an I-Pass if we start getting more work up north. (And I hope we will!)  The GPS took us right to the front door of Lisle Junior High School, and after several small, but manageable bumps in the setup process, we were ready to present.

As it turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Now don’t misunderstand, I am not crazy about being wrong, but in this case I was thrilled!  We presented “10 Ways to Shake Things Up” using technology within the classroom.  We have presented this session on several different occasions and it is funny how it always ends up getting tweaked so that it is rarely the same 10 things.  I guess you could say that Recess TEC also likes to “Shake Things Up” since we are in a constant state of revising our sessions. 

icewebThe participants during our sessions were delightful.  It was fun to see so many of them taking  notes and asking  questions about our ideas and how to implement them.  We really enjoyed the morning and especially enjoyed getting to meet one of the members of our PLN (Nadine) in person.  In fact, she is the one who took this picture!

wholefoodsMom and I usually like to go out to eat for lunch after our presentations as a way to reflect and enjoy one another’s company.  Today we made a trek down the road to Whole Foods, the Mecca of healthy eating grocery stores.  I think I may have heard the Hallelujah Chorus play as I pulled into my parking spot (thanks again to that GPS for getting us there with NO problems!).  We did some shopping for things that I definitely can’t get in Central IL and then had lunch in the cafe area where they have the best selection of hot and cold bar foods from which to choose.

“Old Dog (a.k.a. RecessTEC)” + “New Tricks” = “Something to Share”

by recesstec SMARTBoard tips workshops

We were happy to be “On the Road, Again”…
and Jefferson School in Charleston was once again our point of destination yesterday morning.

“Advanced SMARTBoard” was the workshop for the morning, and we always look forward to working with Charleston teachers in a “hands-on” setting. It’s a special treat when Shannon’s “next-door neighbors”, The Pattenaudes, are our IT specialists, as well. They are very, very supportive and stay for the whole sessions.

We were in the middle of showing how to drag a slide from one Notebook file into another, when one of our participants showed us how to make the process easier!

But wait!
A picture, or three, is worth thousands of words…
The “Old Way” was to “restore down” each Notebook file and to stack the “source file” on top of the destination file.
Then we would drag the slide from the source slide-sorter into the slide-sorter of the destination file behind it.

The Old Way

 

Now…
The “New Way”:

Right click on your bottom “Task Bar” and choose the “Show Windows Stacked” option.

Show Windows Stacked

 

Now your files are stacked on top of each other, and it is much easier to drag the slides from one file and place it where you want into the destination file.

Easier Result!

 

Thank you, so much, Jan, for that “Tip”!

My Ultimate Role Model

by recesstec workshops

This morning we offered a wiki workshop in Tuscola. We have been looking forward to this workshop for quite a while since we knew it would be a small group who would receive a lot of individualized and assisted work time. This is fun for us and fun for participants as they end up leaving the session with a “make and take” that can be fully implemented into their classrooms.

Last night I went to school to set up the snack area and run through the presentation and to recheck the links. The links worked, everything was ready.

Did I mention that was LAST NIGHT?

Twenty-five minutes prior to the official workshop start time, I logged in to the main presentation computer and noticed the lower right hand corner was flashing “Could Not Connect to Network Drives”. YIKES! Mom was trying to log in to the student computers with equal success. The network was down. And there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. I put in a phone call to our technology coordinator, but was never successful in making a connection (no pun intended). What to do? Invite the participants to walk across the street and sit at my kitchen table to create their own wikis. Thank goodness the number of participants was low. And thank goodness my husband had left his laptop on the kitchen table before heading out to school this morning.Gumby

Note from “Mom”:
This included a quick trip home and back to pick up my laptop to give us a fourth computer.
Lesson learned:  ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS bring my computer.
(And that there are a lot of unmarked state police cars between Tuscola and Mattoon.)

It ended up being a pretty pleasant morning. Each participant left with a wiki that was ready for school on Monday. And they all seemed pretty excited. After all, they stayed 35 minutes past the official workshop schedule and no, we weren’t holding them captive!

I think there was definitely a lesson learned today, and it had absolutely NOTHING to do with wikis.
Be flexible.

Oh, and back to the title.
My ultimate role model?

Gumby.  He is all that.

A special thanks to my PLN on Plurk who shared some wiki links with me to use as examples.

We Love Interactive WhiteBoards but a Wii IWB??

by recesstec SMARTBoard workshops

Wii Remote

Ok…I was curious.  I have seen the YouTube video of Johnny Lee.  I have had a SMARTBoard in my classroom for 4 years.  I know about school budget crunches.  All three of those reasons combined led Mom and me to attend  a session at the East Central IL Tech Conference on Friday entitled “Interactive Whiteboard (aka “SMARTBoard”) for <$100″.

It seems like this $100 Wii IWB thing is really starting to become a reality.  There are quite a few places online where you can purchase the light pens, as well as accessories for the Wii Remote to make it stand on a tripod as a functional piece of classroom equipment.  Software is available as a free download to get your computer compatible with the hardware.

Any surface can be transformed into an IWB. 
Even a table top. 
And with Multi-touch capabilities if you have more than one light pen. 
Wow…the opportunity to have a multi-touch table in my classroom in 2009?

Well…I have to admit.  I was less than thrilled with the functionality of the Wii IWB as a suitable means within a classroom. 
Sure, it would work….if you were using your IWB as a game board, or to write and wipe. 
But I think there are many folks who are beyond the “glorified whiteboard” idea.  At least we hope they are.  And if they aren’t?  Well, we can certainly help with that!

We have a multitude of ways that the SMARTBoard can be used within the educational setting from small individualized center activities, to whole group lessons, to alternative assessment tools, to differentiated instruction. 

I could never go back to teaching without my board.  Ever!

The Princess

by recesstec SMARTBoard workshops

whatscookingToday Recess Tec traveled to Charleston, Illinois to present a workshop on SMARTBoard Notebook 10 to a great group of teachers. We have done many of these sessions, and although we cover the same basic information, each session is different given the difference in teachers, their personalities, and the subjects and grade levels they teach.

This group provided a very pleasant morning. The lab at Jefferson School was clean, bright, and there were no “equipment malfunctions”. The participants had many questions, but “got it” quickly. The room was often very quiet as they worked and concentrated. This is one of the many things we enjoy very much about our training sessions… to see the different ways teachers use the SMARTBoard, and the lessons they begin to build or download.

Our session closed and Shannon, Ashton and I rewarded ourselves with lunch at one of our favorite restaurants…

“What’s Cookin’“

Yum…

First HouseBoth the school and the restaurant are within blocks of my first “home” as a young married bride. My husband was attending Eastern Illinois University on the G.I. Scholarship,
and I was working at Eastern’s Booth House in the Office of Nonacademic Personnel.

I remember when we first moved into the house. It was old then, and divided into three rental apartments for students.

I drove by to see if it was still there. It was. And one of the apartments was for rent… and except for the addition of some vinyl siding, had changed very little.

I remember how excited I was to have a little place to “fix up”…
(And it required MUCH of that!) and how I looked forward to getting a phone hooked up, and to be able to call home from work.The Princess

One evening I arrived home and discovered that the telephone man had been there, and he hooked up “our phone”. My first disappointment… It was NOT the phone of my dreams. “Heavy” was not what I had dreamed of.

Black did not fit in with the pastel blue walls, and although pastel blue walls were important, color coordination was the dream.

It had a cloth covered cord… that did not stretch when you pulled on it. A “stretchie” cord was part of the dream.

And the dial. Sigh… It didn’t light up.

It wasn’t a “princess”.

Even back then, technology was important.

Presentation Squats

by recesstec workshops

Yesterday Shannon and I presented at the 2009 East Central Illinois Technology Conference at Lake Land College in Mattoon, Illinois. We always enjoy this conference since this is one opportunity to see many of the new friends we have made through our workshops, as well as visit with many friends from the past to catch up on family, and to share pictures on our cell phones.

Our last session was also the final session of the day. 
The room was packed and I even gave away my chair for someone to use.
This was one of our favorite presentations requiring two computers, two sets of speakers, and two projectors. The biggest challenge of the hour:

maintaining internet access.

Shannon carries the delivery. She talks much faster than I do, and she is excellent at voice projection. (I understand these things. I had her in my 7th grade study hall once.)

My job was to show as many links as possible, and to throw in comments when she needed to take a breath.  I was down on my knees or squatting most of the time since my computer was on a low table, and the room was dark.

And then the question about…

inappropriate use of computers…and the expressed concern about students going where they shouldn’t go.

This had my attention and both Shannon and I flew to reply,
“Teachers are the best filters.” 
I have never stood up so fast in my life.
I almost flew over the table.
If I could have moved out into the audience and stood next to her “face-to-face”, I would have.
I held myself back from saying,
“Teachers need to quit grading papers when they take their students to the lab.”

We are passionate on this subject. We actually did a “Guest Post” on a famous blog.
And people left comments!

Our goal is to motivate teachers to use technology.

The schools are asking us to use technology.

The schools want us to use 21st Century tools.squats2

But the schools don’t always give us those tools.

Or allow us to use those tools.

And when they do, either because they haven’t noticed that we are using them, or because they have finally seen the value, we need to teach responsibly.
We need to monitor our students…
and we need to educate ourselves.

Today?

I’m a little sore…
Squats in heels are a little rough on the quads!

How…did…you do that?

by recesstec SMARTBoard tips workshops

Saturday was cold, snowy, and windy, windy, windy, windy, windy. (Did I mention it was windy?)  Oh that’s right…we were in Tuscola.

So, it was a perfect day to host one of our SMARTBoard beginners’ workshops. We can’t tell you how much we enjoy our days together. Not only do Shannon and I enjoy one another’s company, but it is refreshing to work with teachers who are excited about technology.

Originally, when we began this blog, we thought we would share our traveling adventures. One of the things we stress in our workshops is to focus on TWO things that you want to take away with you. I have found this to work for me when I have felt overwhelmed by information, and sometimes defeated before I begin. So, with that in mind, I thought I would try to find one thing at each of our workshops that I have learned, either in preparing for the workshop, or from the participants themselves.

In this workshop, the second part is very “hands-on”. We “show”, they “do”. It is then that we are available for help and guidance.

We were going over basics on formatting the background, and one of the teachers had a tiled background. She did not know how she got it, and I had to look to see whether she had cloned a piece of clipart. Finally, looking at the “formatting tab”, I saw that she had selected a small piece of clipart to use for the “insert image” fill option. I had never seen that done, nor thought of doing it myself, and it had created a “tiled” background, much like your desktop might look if you choose to use a small picture for your background. This option, especially made more transparent, might be something someone can use, and it is nice to know that it is available.  On the other hand, it was nice for me to know how it was done if it was an accident.  After all, isn’t that what we tell our students?  That those things we learn best are from our mistakes?

A "tiled" background

Going Home

by recesstec workshops

Today we had the privilege of presenting three workshops in Pana.

Why “Home”?
 
It was in this community that I had my “first classroom”.  Before teaching in Pana, I taught as a Reading Resource teacher in Mattoon, and as a Science, Art, and Computer teacher in Shelbyville.  I had never had a “self-contained” classroom where I taught all subjects to one group of students.  I was between jobs, busy raising six children of our own, and teaching as a substitute whenever I could. One day I received a call from the principal at Sacred Heart School.  She had a position that had opened up because of a maternity leave, and would I please come the next day and “try us out”?  It was eighth grade.  I winced, but she convinced me to just come one day, and if I didn’t like them, I wouldn’t have to come back.  How do you say “No” to someone whose first name is “Sister”?
 
I stayed four years.
 
And they are filled with some of the happiest and best memories teaching.
 
Why?
 
The students…
How often does a teacher have the opportunity to teach eighth graders in a self-contained setting?
They were fun and funny…and they loved to learn.
They were enthusiastic about anything I offered as a challenge.
 
The parents…
Behavior problems were seldom an issue.  If they misbehaved in school, there were consequences at home, as well.  Christmas gifts arrived in the form of  “home-made”, and usually ethnic. 
 
The community…
They embraced their members, and they would do anything to make you feel like one of their own.
 
That is how our workshop went today.
 
We were met at PHS by Scott, the IT specialist. To say that he loves his job, loves his teachers, loves his administrators, and loves Pana is an understatement.  He had us up and running in only a matter of minutes.  He was very encouraging, and he was excited about what we were going to show his teachers.  “This is cool stuff.”
 
I’ll let Shannon tell you the rest…

Scott was truly a pleasure with which to work.  He has many big plans for Pana in the way of upgrading the capabilities for everyone associated with the school district.  I was truly impressed with his passion for making a great operating system “outstanding”.  It is awesome to be surrounded with other individuals in our field of work that have the same passion as we do regarding the use of technology within the classroom and beyond!
 
The sessions went very well, at least I think they did.  Teachers didn’t throw anything at us or give us the evil eye.  They were EXTREMELY quiet and seemed to be taking in all of the ideas that we were presenting for integrating technology into the classroom.  I don’t think it hurt that we passed around a little chocolate to keep their tastebuds happy during the presentation…but nonetheless. 
 
We have traveled to many schools in this area to present and Pana obviously has it figured out…what is “it” you ask?  EVERYONE attended our presentation…and I mean EVERYONE.  Every teacher, every administrator, as well as Scott.  “It” means that they are all on the same page regarding the technology integration within their district.  Now that doesn’t necessarily mean they liked all of our ideas, or will use all of our ideas.  But they all received the same information first hand which hopefully will generate some spark and discussion!  We couldn’t be more thrilled about that possibility.  For that we extend a huge THANK YOU.

My cell phone...We always try to include something we learn at each of our workshops.  So many times it is from our participants, each other, an IT specialist, or when we are just looking for an answer to a question.  As we were setting up our speakers, they made a little buzz that I often hear both at home, and from my car speakers as I drive, especially on my daily commute to school as I pass by one particular place every day. Shannon asked me about it and “name?” explained that it was my cell phone.  The phone was next to the speakers, and Scott asked if I had an AT&T phone.
 
He explained it’s known as the “GSM Buzz”, and it has to do with the way my cell phone communicates with the tower, and the way the GSM networks work. The radio frequency in a GSM phone “pulses”, and it’s picked up by devices that aren’t shielded well. You don’t notice it on Verizon phones because they work on a CDMA network which operates on a spectrum that isn’t as audible. The pulse rate on my phone is in a spectrum that is easily heard. He also said it’s not a problem, but it just happens.

…and the best part?Queen of Texting
 
I explained this to my granddaughter, “Queen of the Cell Phone and All Things Texting”, and she, of course knew all about it.

As I was packing up our equipment at the end of the day, I looked up and saw this sign. It made me smile.
cardcat

 The Card Catalog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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